CryptoQuant analysts warn of the risk of freezing 1 million bitcoins of Satoshi Nakamoto

CryptoQuant analytical platform warns that the development of quantum technologies could jeopardize the security of bitcoin. According to the company’s CEO, Kee Young Ju, in the event of a quantum update, about 1 million BTC associated with Сатоші Накамото" href="https://noworries.news/biography/satoshi-nakamoto/" data-bio-id="4232">Satoshi Nakamoto, as well as millions of other coins at old addresses, will have to be frozen.

It’s not just about Satoshi’s coins. Any users who store assets on outdated types of addresses face a similar risk. The reason is in cryptography: the current Bitcoin security model is resistant to attacks by classical computers, but quantum machines are potentially capable of recovering private keys based on public ones.

According to CryptoQuant, about 6.89 million BTC may be vulnerable to quantum attacks. Approximately 3.4 million coins have been inactive for more than a decade, including about 1 million BTC attributed to Satoshi. At current prices, this is hundreds of billions of dollars, which could be a powerful incentive for attackers if effective quantum solutions emerge.

Joo emphasizes that even owners of keys stored in a secure environment risk losing access to funds if they do not update them in accordance with new protocols. The problem lies not so much in the technical implementation of the update as in achieving social consensus in the community.

In his opinion, consensus will be the main challenge. The discussion about the block size lasted for more than three years and ended in hard forks. The potential freezing of «sleeping» coins may contradict the basic philosophy of bitcoin and lead to a split in the ecosystem as quantum technologies develop.